


My Wandering Days Are Over

by saggiclowns



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Established Relationship, Nonbinary Character, Other, nonbinary author, spot the part where duke almost uses the L word
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:00:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,670
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23766532
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saggiclowns/pseuds/saggiclowns
Summary: For international pro duelist and red-eye flight regular Joey Wheeler, leaving home was never the hard part. A late night post tournament rendezvous with Duke Devlin was never on his list of things that could ever change that fact.
Relationships: Jounouchi Katsuya | Joey Wheeler/Otogi Ryuuji | Duke Devlin
Comments: 4
Kudos: 5





	My Wandering Days Are Over

**Author's Note:**

> Duke is nonbinary and uses the/them pronouns. The title is after the Belle and Sebastian song of the same name, because I hate coming up with titles. I don't know what it is about these two that makes me so emo, but here we are.

The return home from a tournament tour always went as follows. The plane would land at the Domino airport from Sydney or Belgium or Chicago or wherever. Joey would wait patiently in his seat while the other passengers jumped up and crowded the aisle chaotically until it cleared enough for his exit. He’d drag his single suitcase through the terminal to the train, because there was no point wasting money on a car when the rail was just as good, and he’d order some takeout at a planned strategic moment so that the food would meet him when he got back to his apartment. 

It was a good system. Serenity or Yugi would always offer to pick him up, but after days of press conference interviews and nights spent dueling under the hot stadium lights he mostly just wanted to eat something out of a Styrofoam box and sleep through the jet lag and air sickness. He felt a little bad but it was easier to come up with an excuse. Tournaments were a blast and it wasn’t that he didn’t want to see them, but there was always a kind of weird melancholy that hovered when the plane hit the landing strip. It was a hard feeling to pin down or describe. Mostly Joey just chalked it up to being tired.

The plane touched down at Domino International from Schipol. The passengers clambered over each other pulling their luggage from the overhead. Joey waited in his seat and futzed with a phone game until the aisle cleared enough for him to get out. He made his way to the train depot with his lone piece of luggage dragging along and when he took his seat he swiped open his phone to shut off airplane mode, place a takeout order and check his texts.

_Congrats Joey!_

_Welcome home. Was the flight okay? Text me._

_Hey man good playing out there. Burger world soon, you’re buying after that prize check clears lol_

_I miss you._

It was the last text that paused Joey before he closed out his messages. His thumb hovered over the keyboard before tapping a reply.

_Are you home?_

The response came within seconds despite the late hour. The train passed a few more stops before Joey got off at a downtown station many stops before the one in his neighborhood and he called a cab to take him the rest of the way to his new destination. The rail was just as good, but it wasn’t as fast. He took the stairs to the second story apartment two at a time and the door opened before he’d even knocked.

“So, how big is it?” Duke asked.

“You’re an idiot.” Joey said. 

“Just kidding, I saw the livestream. Is it just me or is Kaiba Corp getting cheap with their trophy budget these days —”

The rest of Duke’s banter was lost to Joey’s mouth against theirs as he dropped his bag and scooped them up off the floor in his arms. Their limbs loosened instantly and they melted against him while he kicked his suitcase inside and shoved the door closed behind them with his back. Their apartment was bigger than Joey’s but way neater, which made it easy for them to shuffle to the bedroom and fall against the mattress. Between breathless kisses Duke managed to pull away the layers that separated the two of them and they descended on Joey again without further interruption.

Joey was severely jetlagged, dehydrated and in desperate need of a shower but inhaling the cherry and cream rinse smell of Duke’s hair and touching every inch of warm skin he could seemed a lot more important right now. A giggle bubbled from them when he nibbled on their earlobe and the laugh cut off into a gasp when his fingers slid their underwear to the side.

“I missed you,” They said. Their voice came as a sigh of warm breath over Joey’s ear that rolled a shudder through him. “I missed you like crazy.”

Joey kissed Duke’s throat as their head went back when he pushed into them. He gave an appreciative laugh at their impatient urging as they bore down on his fingers. It wasn’t unlike them to be this chatty during sex but something about their tone set him off kilter. He responded between Duke’s kisses pressed against his lips and along his jaw.

“Well we could try phone sex again if you wanna, but the long distance rates are fucking —”

“I missed your laugh, and your smile, and your dumb jokes.” They said. They kept moving but the rhythm of their hips became a slow grind. “I missed you passing out on my couch and watching shitty movies. I missed you.”

Joey’s own movements slowed and he looked up to find Duke staring at him with wide green eyes. His face felt hot and like his own eyes were burning. Duke had a habit of watching and he was used to it, but right now it felt like too much to have them looking at him like that. He did what made sense in the moment and leaned up to meet them in a heavy kiss. After a few seconds he felt them pull away.

"Joey, are you okay?" They asked.

"What?" He heard himself say back.

"You're crying." They observed practically.

"Don't laugh," Joey mumbled once he realized what had happened. He could feel the hot tears rolling down his cheeks and it felt so completely stupid but he couldn’t stop them from coming now that they’d started.

"Why would I laugh?" Duke asked. 

They sounded a little offended at the suggestion but the question felt genuine all the same. They slid from where they had perched on top of him and laid at his side. In the dark it was easier not to think about them looking at him but he knew they were anyway.

"You'll laugh." Joey insisted, hating the obvious pout in his voice. He looked away towards the window that glowed with street lights between the half parted blinds. The lights were hazy halos in his watery vision. “It’s stupid.”

"I’m sure it’s not. And I won't laugh." Duke reassured him.

"It's embarrassing,” He tried one last time.

"Tell me." Duke said firmly. They were the only person besides his damn sister who could make him talk when he didn’t want to. He was fighting a battle he’d already lost.

"This isn't how this usually goes for me." Joey said. His voice sounded too small in the dark room that felt too big.

"How what goes?" Duke asked. He could feel their fingers tentatively brush his arm. He didn’t pull away even though his muscle memory said to. 

"Sex." He replied plainly. The straightforward answers were the easiest.

"How is it usually?" Duke asked. Their touch became a little heavier, a little more present. It did manage to make him feel better but Joey’s arms felt too heavy to move in any real way to encourage them.

"I don't do this.” He said with his eyes on the faraway ceiling. The tears started to well up again and he felt monumentally stupid. “It's not usually like this. I don't know,"

"What's different?" Duke prompted him. 

"You. Me. Both, maybe. How you make me feel. I think about you all the time." 

Joey felt like he was babbling and making absolutely zero sense. His voice came out as a watery croak and it made his face burn with embarrassment. He kept waiting for Duke to crack a joke, even just to ease the tension, but it never came. Instead they sidled up closer to him and looped an arm over his chest.

"I think about you, too." They said. Their words were spoken into the messy blonde strands that curled against his shoulder.

"Maybe that's it." He mumbled.

"What?" Duke asked.

"You think about me.” Joey said. Surprisingly the longer he talked the less he felt like crying. He decided not to knock it and kept going. “You care about me, how I feel and if it feels good for me."

"I do. I care about you a lot, Joey." Duke said. Their fingers rubbed soothing circles into his skin that spread a comforting warmth.

"Yeah?" He asked. It felt dumb but he needed to hear them say it again. 

"Yeah.” They leaned up to prop on an elbow and then their lips were against his cheeks, peppering kisses over his skin. They were kissing away his tears. “You make me really happy."

Joey gave a long sniff and a waterlogged laugh when Duke offered their discarded t shirt and held it to his nose for him to blow into. He did it, if only for the joke and because snot running down your face isn’t generally considered the most romantic. 

“I care about you too, Duke.” Joey finally replied after a long quiet moment. “You make me happy, too.”

Duke’s mouth opened to say something else, but they seemed to change their mind at the last second and settled back down against him. Joey brushed his hand up their back to tangle his fingers in the thick curls of their dark hair. He scratched lightly at the base of their neck and they let out a long breath.

“Sorry I totally messed up the reunion sex. We can try and go again, if that wasn’t a total boner killer.”

“You didn’t mess up anything.” Duke said, and somehow Joey almost believed them. They leaned up to kiss him, keeping their touch light and soft. “Let’s just kiss for a while.”

“Okay,” Joey said. 

They kissed in the dark for a long time but eventually jet lag got the better of him and Joey drifted off to the steady hum of the air conditioner and Duke’s fingers brushing lightly through his hair. His last waking thought was that leaving home is a lot easier when you have someone waiting for you to come back.


End file.
